All the Reviews

Dining with Devils, Gordon Aalborg

After spending a fair amount of time in Tasmania in the 1970's, Canadian Gordon Aalborg did what all red blooded Canadian-Australian men do, he turned to writing romance novels.  20 or more of those novels later, he's now turned to crime fiction as well, and DINING WITH DEVILS is the second of those.

Set in Tasmania, DINING WITH DEVILS combines crime and caving - not a combination that you'd immediately think of (unless you're inclined towards the belief that activities in the dark are best when that dark is rocky, hard, damp, and far underground!)

Sergeant ... Read Review

A Deadly Trade, Michael Stanley

There's something in the water (or maybe it's in the dust) in Africa at the moment.  Whilst there has been a slowly increasing number of crime or mystery books set in Africa, there's now an increasing number written by African authors appearing for our enjoyment.  Michael Stanley (the South African duo of long-time friends Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip), have now released their second book - A DEADLY TRADE (aka The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu), follow up to the very well received debut book - A CARRION DEATH.

Wrapped up in the well devised plot of a solid police ... Read Review

Curse of the Pogo Stick, Colin Cotterill

Anybody who hasn't indulged in the Dr Siri series by Colin Cotterill could be forgiven for wondering what on earth is going on with CURSE OF THE POGO STICK.  Booby-trapped corpses and reluctant coroners might be reasonably expected in crime fiction, but Hmong villagers needing exorcism by a thousand-year-old shaman who shares the aforementioned coroner's body?  Understandably a "What the" moment.

Whilst the spiritual (supernatural) component of CURSE OF THE POGO STICK is considerably stronger than the earlier books,  the series has been building the unlikely scenario of ... Read Review

A Year to Learn a Woman, Paddy Richardson

A YEAR TO LEARN A WOMAN is the second novel and first crime fiction offering from New Zealand writer Paddy Richardson.  Travis Crill is a serial rapist - convicted and jailed for a series of bizarre attacks.  Claire Wright is a freelance journalist, living alone with her young daughter after the sudden death of her older husband.  When Claire is first contacted to see if she would be interested in writing the story of Crill for a very much needed large sum of money, she finds she can quickly overcome her initial reluctance to look closely at a man like him.  But understanding Crill's ... Read Review

Borderlands, Brian McGilloway (review by Sunnie Gill)

A well written police procedural is one of the reasons I'm so addicted to crime fiction. A good police procedural will introduce you to the police,take you by the land and lead you through their investigation as they unearth clues by interviewing people, sifting the evidence and following leads. There will be a careful balance of detecting and learning about the lives of the detectives. If the author has done the job properly s/he doesn't deliberately hold back clues or have the the detectives catch the culprit in the act, just two pages before the end.

In his first novel ... Read Review

Deep Water, Peter Corris

Cliff's back - Lazarus with a quadruple bypass no less.  He's resigned to never getting his licence back and his agency is now in the hands of his daughter Megan and her PI boyfriend.  He still misses Lily, and he's still driving "a" trusty Falcon, and he's no longer so pressed for money.

More importantly, he's lucky to be alive.

Recovering from a quadruple bypass has it's own challenges - the exercise requirements, the pills that have to be taken for the rest of your life, the limitations that the awareness of mortality places on you, and there are glimpses ... Read Review

Blood Moon, Garry Disher

The Hal Challis series is really growing into something particularly interesting, as well as entertaining.  There's a distinct edge to this story, there are obviously some issues which the author wants to talk about, and he's cleverly worked a number of elements of social observation and commentary into what is, overall, a good solid police procedural.

Hal and Ellen's romantic interest at the end of the last book has developed into a live-in relationship.  Which has a number of complications - not just that they work together and that Hal is Ellen's boss.  Ellen's divorce ... Read Review

Bait, Nick Brownlee

The latest "it" in crime fiction can be pretty common.  Sometimes it's a plot elements, sometimes it's locations for books, sometimes it's the home location of the author themselves.  The "it" thing I'm coming across a lot at the moment is books set in Africa.  Not that you could possibly complain if the books are the standard of BAIT.

BAIT is set in Kenya, and whilst the setting is used to good effect - the scenery, the animals, the weather, what is really used well is the society (emerging / building / dealing with the after-affects of civil unrest) and the people ... Read Review

Deadly Intent, Lynda La Plante

DEADLY INTENT is the fourth book in the Anna Travis series, made up of ABOVE SUSPICION, THE RED DAHLIA and CLEAN CUT.  It's been a series which I've really enjoyed... up until this book, which I have to say disappointed.

Anna is a dogged sort of a detective character, who has had a complicated personal life - having had a short-lived but dramatic affair with her previous boss - James Langton.  She is still feeling the loss of that relationship and finding dealing with Langton on a daily basis very difficult.  When he steps into overall control of the investigation of the ... Read Review